Organizations and businesses depend on software deployed throughout their computing infrastructures to perform the day-to-day tasks for their respective fields. Computing advances each day with smarter and faster computers, enhanced software capabilities, and better peripherals. Frequently, however, software users may experience performance and technical issues during operation of their systems. Depending on the software and the operating environment, these technical errors may be of varying complexity and occur frequently.
Some support solutions require a customer, or the individual using the software application, to report the error through a manual process. Upon receipt of the error report, the support provider may manually analyze the error, diagnose the problem, and determine the proper solution. Once found, the support provider may relay the solution to the customer, who may then attempt to implement the steps of the provided solution. In alternative support solutions, the customer may be given a phone number for a support provider's dedicated support hotline so that the customer may explain the errors received to a technical consultant of the support provider. In these situations, the customer generally needs a rudimentary level of knowledge regarding the software to ensure that the dialog between the technical consultant and the customer is clear enough to engage in finding a solution.
Other support solutions offer a searchable knowledge base to its customers. Thus, when an error occurs, the customer may manually search a listing of provided solution documentation for common errors that may occur with the software application. For more robust software applications, the related knowledge base may include multiple levels of solutions, requiring significant time and effort by customers to find, and then decipher, the correct solution. Even after locating a suitable solution, implementing the steps may be too difficult for customers without advanced knowledge of or access to the application. Further, a number of support providers offer a staffed help desk where customers may submit a ticket describing an error. The ticket is reviewed by a technical consultant who analyzes the error and attempts to provide solutions.
The set of current support solutions requires both customers and technical consultants to manually generate one or more potential solutions. Thus, customer support requires time- and resource-consuming actions. Some errors may occur frequently, providing the technical consultant with the experience necessary to quickly solve the customer's error. Other errors, however, may occur much less frequently, requiring the technical consultant or customer to spend large amounts of time searching for solutions relevant to the software error. For technical consultants, the location of infrequent error solutions may not be known and may be difficult to track down. For customers performing the search on their own, the occurrence of an infrequent error can often cause serious difficulty in finding a solution.